Bird samurai Kez revealed as Dota 2’s next hero—and he’s coming soon to a lane near you

As is tradition at Dota 2‘s The International, we’ve gotten a first look at the next hero coming to the MOBA—and if you’re a fan of flightless birds wielding swords, then this hero is right up your alley.

Enter Kez, the head of the Kazumi and swashbuckler extraordinaire, who joins Dota‘s illustrious roster in the coming days as he arrives in-game shortly after TI wraps up. Crownfall Act Four will introduce Kez much as we saw with Act Three’s release of Ringmaster, although the latter had little to do with the lore of Crownfall and was more in celebration of TI and its approach.

The trailer for Kez, revealed during championship Sunday at TI 2024, shows the flightless bird dancing around and holding a samurai’s blade before diving off a balcony and slashing away at banners. “Every revolution needs a hero” is splattered onto a wall in between action cuts before we get a good look at him as he perches on a pole and looks out into the audience.

Tsunami and SirActionSlacks shared a little more information and backstory about Kez with the live TI audience. Kez is a character directly involved with the events in Crownfall‘s story, but unfortunately, the finer details about how he’ll play in Dota weren’t shared. Given he’s a samurai, is it much of a stretch to assume we’d play him as a carry or in the mid-lane?

We probably won’t be waiting too long to play him, though; he’ll headline the final act of Crownfall which is set to release “after TI wraps up.” Since we’re about two months on from Act Three’s release and Crownfall is meant to conclude sometime mid-October, it’s likely we will be able to pick (or ban) Kez in our Dota matches as early as this week.